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Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Judge rejects Samsung bid to lift Galaxy Nexus sales ban

Preliminary injunction granted to Apple will go into effect once the iPhone maker posts a bond of nearly $96 million.
A federal judge today denied a Samsung request to lift a ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who last week granted Apple's request for the preliminary injunction, said there was insufficient evidence to stay the injunction for the duration of a Samsung appeal.

Koh ordered the preliminary injunction on Friday, granting a motion Apple made in February that alleged Samsung infringed on several of its patents. The injunction, which would keep the Samsung device from being sold in stores in the U.S., can go into effect as soon as Apple posts a bond of nearly $96 million.

Samsung's appeal, which was filed Sunday with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit -- a court that specializes in intellectual property disputes -- argued that there was insufficient evidence that Apple and Samsung were competitors.

Samsung said it was disappointed in Koh's ruling but would continue to appeal the injunction.

"We believe today's ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior products to consumers in the United States," a Samsung spokesperson told CNET. "Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google's unified search function."

Google is reportedly working on a software patch for its Android operating system, although the details are unclear. CNET has contacted Google for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

Google began selling Samsung's Galaxy Nexus directly to consumers in April. The device, which now costs $349, originally debuted at a Google-hosted event last October in hand with Android 4.0, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich.

It's the second legal victory Apple has scored this week against Samsung's Android-powered devices. On Monday, Koh declined to suspend a separate preliminary injunction requested by Apple that bans sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1